Equipment

A trucking industry-related coalition is engaged in a behind-the-scenes skirmish with two dozen Republican members of Congress over whether the Environmental Protection Agency should be required to conduct a regulatory impact analysis to support the agency’s proposal to repeal an Obama administration rule limiting the manufacture of glider kits.

General Motors Co. and the SoftBank Vision Fund are partnering to invest in GM Cruise to bring self-driving vehicles to market by next year, the company said May 31.

Connecticut is obtaining $7.5 million from the national Volkswagen settlement over emissions cheating and will use the funds to help replace aging diesel trucks and other equipment.

More fleets are requesting downsped engines that run at about 1,100 rpm at highway speeds, significantly slower than previous generations of diesels.

Tim Sylvester, CEO of Kansas City, Mo.-based Integrated Roadways, thinks his startup company’s “smart pavement” — bristling with sensors and the latest fiber-optic and wireless technology — could be a lifesaver in mishaps.

State officials figure the Volkswagen diesel emissions testing scandal added an extra 10,000 tons of noxious nitrogen oxide to California’s air. To make up for it, the state will use $423 million of Volkswagen penalty money to cut the same amount of nitrogen oxide by subsidizing the purchase of zero-emission trucks, buses and other vehicles.

Since the Uber accident in March, autonomous car researchers’ eyes have been opening to the need to teach robots how to drive in the dark and avoid people who wander into the road.

Used truck sales in April reached 22,900, up 9% from 21,000 in the same month in 2017, according to ACT Research Co.’s industrywide estimate.

This spring, a struggle for market share in online tire retailing turned into a battle for dominance as giants Goodyear and Bridgestone paired off against Amazon and Sears.

Uber is shutting down testing operations in Arizona and focusing instead on testing in Pittsburgh and San Francisco, according to an internal e-mail from Eric Meyhofer, a Carnegie Mellon University graduate and the head of Uber’s self-driving car operations.